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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Music General Discussion »

Permalink La Luz on NPR

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Yeah, clearly they aren't a surf band in the sense of what brought us here. That isn't the interesting part to me. What is interesting about this band is how they use surf guitar in their music, which makes it sound fresh and interesting to me. Hearing that style of guitar in a different context is kind of cool to me.

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Last edited: Feb 15, 2018 18:14:06

Also, the Raveonettes have a more surfy guitar sound and 100% aren't a surf band. La Luz has less of a surf guitar sound and are more surf than the Raveonettes. La Luz as I stated in my first post, eh... close enough. I mean, they aren't a surf band. But there are parts of it there, and people will continue to call them a surf band. They are the new surf.

It's silly to think that it got named surf guitar. It's South California Pop Music from the 60s.

I'm a big La Luz fan, and I think this new song is great (thanks for the heads up Brian!).

To me they've always been bigger than the sum of their parts: nakedly amateurish guitar with (in my opinion) a kind of ugly, too limp, too twangy surf tone; frankly hackish keys; weird - but weirdly compelling -drums; and oftentimes unsteady vocals. But dammit they just write some great, haunting, melancholy melodies. The acme for me is "Sleep Till They Die," glorious in its own way. And to counter Jake, I do think this new song displays an improvement in technical skill. They don't sound pro, but they certainly sound tighter, and the tones sound bigger. I guess a boost in production value doesn't hurt either.

I'm with Brian in that I certainly don't consider them a surf band, but I clearly see and appreciate the surf influences. I love surf, but it's unsurprising to see basically anyone on this forum channel their inspiration by, let's say, Dick Dale and come up with... something that sounds like Dick Dale. But I find it cool to think that La Luz drew from the same inspiration and come up with that?? Whatever it is they're doing it sounds great.

My "they haven't improved" comment was on the technical front, more the writing front. Really, the harmonies and the keyboard are the issues.

I like Shana's guitar playing and she sings well even when unsteady, that has charm as well. Just the uninventive harmonies and the chord banging organ... Shana's a much better guitarist than she puts on. She was in a program with my friend is quite a bit better.

I mean, I like 'em...

Liked what I heard and there’s definitely a Surf influence, but certainly not down the “centerline” of the genre. I tend to think in terms that I’ve heard credited at times to Duke Ellington or to Louis Armstrong: there are only two kinds of music; good and bad.

When Rock n’ Roll came along, it wasn’t long before some instrumentals came into the picture. Honky Tonk was an R&B instrumental from the mid fifties and influenced Rock n’ Roll guitar greatly at the time. For that matter, it still has considerable influence, albeit cumulatively, from the numerous songs that have made use of its motifs.

Duane Eddy was a pioneer of Instrumental Rock and he was hardly alone. Link Wray, The Champs and any number of bands that came and went, leaving an instrumental tune as their only legacy. When Surf came along, it was a reflection of the Rock n’ Roll of the time, some of it quite reminiscent of the Twist music which was all over the airwaves. Surf adopted some Spanish influences, many tunes using variations of the Andalusian Cadence. (Walk, Don’t Run chord changes.)

Personally, I see Surf as a culmination of the Instrumental Rock which came before. After the Beatles arrived, instrumentals became pretty rare on the charts. Some say that the Psychedelic music of the late sixties grew out of Surf, but I wouldn’t argue either side. I see it, in the sense that it’s instrumental Rock n’ Roll, but I have a hard time reconciling the distorted sounds of Psychedelic with the ultra clean sounds of Surf.

Its probably worth mentioning that contemporary with Surf, was the heyday of the Bakersfield sound, which employed twangy guitars and lots of reverb in a Country setting. I love Surf and I love the Bakersfield sound.

When it comes right down to it, I love twangy guitars, and have since the first time I heard one (most likely when Duane Eddy first came along). I was roughly seven years old and freezing my toccus off in Minnesota when Surf first came along, so my affinity for it was more related to the sound of twangy guitars than any affinity for Surfing, the ocean, etc. I’m glad to see that the influence of Surf is still being felt to this day and I’m very happy that I have an outlet for the Surf Music that I enjoy playing.

It is my privilege to be the guitarist in a band named Clutch Draggin’ & the Lug Nuts. We do some Surf, some non-Surf Instrumental Rock, some Country and a mixed bag of other songs, from the ‘50s on into the ‘70s. I am hoping to add some Shadows material and possibly some Jazz-Fusion instrumentals too, in the future. We are not a bespoke Surf band, but we do take our Surf quite seriously, and it is a calling card of sorts.

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